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Bobby Unser, 87, Indy 500 champ in great racing family, dies

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Race car legend and New Mexico icon Bobby Unser, left, tells the Charles Koch Institute’s Vikrant Reddy the story of his tangle with the federal government in 1996 during an event in Albuquerque.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser has died. He died of natural causes at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Sunday.

Unser won the Indy 500 in 1968, 1975 and 1981. His younger brother, Al, is one of only three four-time Indy 500 winners in race history. The Unser family tradition stretched to Al Unser’s son, Al Unser Jr., who won the Indy 500 in 1992 and 1994.

He was one of just 10 drivers to win the 500 at least three times. Unser and Rick Mears are the only drivers to win the 500 in three different decades. Unser was one of six members of the Unser family to race in the Indianapolis 500. Bobby Unser was 87 years old.